this podcast is taking over my life

Dominique Provost-Chalkley said in today’s Tales of the Black Badge podcast that she once had a job where she had to wear a bear costume and hold balloons. So, naturally, @haughtbreaker wanted a fic, and I was more than happy to oblige with this silly drabble. Please don’t judge me. (But someone please take away my laptop.)

It’s quite possibly the most mortifying thing Waverly has ever done in her life: scurrying as fast as possible down a crowded sidewalk in an overstuffed teddy bear costume and trying not to scare young children or knock over elderly tourists. Changing into the furry brown monstrosity before she left her apartment had seemed like a great idea at the time, given that she was running late to her gig and wouldn’t have time to suit up at the party. But now, as her neck begins to cramp from the weight of the bear’s massive head and she’s about to pass out from heat exhaustion, she realizes that maybe, just maybe, it hadn’t been her wisest decision after all.

Waiting to promote ‘Stand By Me’ on Good Morning America in 1986 by Wil Wheaton.

‘’I forgot what day this picture was taken, but it was 1986, right after Stand By Me had been released. There we are, sitting on chairs in the green room, waiting to go be interviewed by (I think) Ron Reagan, Jr. It was my first trip to New York, and I remember how excited I was to go to that huge, almost mythical city, see Times Square, ride the subway, visit the Statue of Liberty, and hang out with Jerry in his home town.

This photo captures our personalities perfectly: River and Corey are focused and serious (Corey is even wearing a tie and drinking coffee!) I am listening to the same person they are, but I’m not even trying to contain how excited I am to be going on a television show that I had been watching with my Aunt Val since I could remember, in front of the whole country, no less.

My favorite part of this picture, though, is Jerry. It’s almost like he caught my mom or dad taking this picture of us, and decided to strike a pose, just to be silly. I just love that he isn’t taking the thing too seriously, and that he’s just having fun and enjoying the whole thing. As I got older and began to feel like the teen magazine publicity stuff was taking over my life, it stopped being fun, and it started to feel like a chore. I always envied that Jerry seemed to take it all in stride, keep it in perspective, and just have fun with it. I heard him on the Adam Carolla podcast about a week or so ago, and he hadn’t changed a bit: still silly, still cracking me up, still keeping everything in perspective.

I’ve always said that Stand By Me was so successful because Rob cast four young actors who were so much like their characters, but I think it’s spooky how the four of us ended up being so much like our characters: River died too young, Corey struggled like crazy to get his personal demons under control, Jerry found success and happiness, and I’m a writer….

Today I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Business with Bordeaux, in which he was discussing Social Media and Branding with JAE is LA (listen here), and they briefly mentioned the many steps to the end result. The references given conversation inevitably ended up with quotes such as “the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step” and “how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” You know the sort of quotes you expect to find on an Instagram or Tumblr post over a picture of a picturesque beach or mountaintop. But why are quotes and saying like this so popular and timeless if not because they are true and speak very accurately on life.

Take the Work Smart Show as an example, we are becoming a complete product, with a fully functional daily blog and radio show while the podcast is still under work - moving the episodes onto iTunes. But even this modest site has much more to gain from further improvements; moving to a full .com, increasing my writing ability, experience and working on collaboration with other writers and experts. So it will be that in years to come anyone visiting the site, listening to the radio show or podcast will see the culmination of our efforts not the many small steps behind this.

Currently I sit down to write two to three blogs every few days and this is a deliberate and scheduled activity but still often can be very difficult to actually do. Currently I am watching through the House of Cards series and thoroughly engrossed so there is always that to distract me. But even if I didn’t have that, a good book, chores or the like to distract me I could just as easily neglect these small basic steps just to sit on the couch or go to bed earlier. It can be so easy to pass olf anything as it is just one small thing that I am missing or pushing back but the reason that they are small is if anything more reason to ensure they are completed.

In any journey, business, job, the smallest things are often the most important to keep track of. Keep track of the small things and the larger, more important things will often also fall in line. This is why parents put such an important focus on issues like children politely acknowledging adults because it builds to the larger issue of respect for others. In a business sense if you are intentional in taking small steps to work well with your stock providers you will find you should have a better relationship in return. There has been several examples when this positive relationship has provided the company with more business opportunities sourced by the stock provider.

It is very easy to simply ignore small steps but if you view them as a part of the whole they have significance. Remember that every step, every action, every late night, new product, new content, is not an individual action but a step towards the dream or goal you are building for.

Sorry that I have been absent as of late. So many things have been going on in my life and I have not had a second to update my Tumblr feed.

Work is going great but I’m working on something very special that I hope to have ready by Spring of next year. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do and I know if I continue to put in the work it will all come into place.

In regards to the Podcast, I have got a few people that have messaged me and reached out. I have decided to put that to rest for now. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy it, it was more that it was taking time away from things that I kept putting on the back burner. I had to reevaluate components of my life and at this moment the Podcast is not part of it.

I do hope to bring it back someday but it might be in a different type of capacity.

I hope all of you who have followed me over the past couple of years are doing great and I hope to at least do an update once a month but for now sending love to you all and don’t stop smiling.

Actual Tanis quote: “Cameron Ellis was in Japan, in a place called The Suicide Forest. I looked it up. It’s interesting, creepy, and mysterious. Three descriptors that might accurately describe my life over the past year and a half. Three words that also perfectly describe Tanis. *PNWS boom*”
I had to turn off the podcast and take a fucking break after that.

Did you say BOYBAND PODCAST! Yes! I have 4 sisters, so we have the boy bands on lock! My poor dad just couldn't deal. Starting with New Edition, NKOTB, B2Men, LFO(summer girls my fave!), O-Town (Ashley Parker Angel please!), Immature, B2K, Hanson, Take That, All-4-One, Westlife, The Wanted, 5ive, 2GE+HER, Backstreet Boys, Blackstreet, BBD, N*sync, 98 degrees, and then sending it way back with my mom brining is up on everything Motown. This is my life Sticky!

I’ll take O-Town over nsync any day of the week!!–AND YOU CAN BLOW ME!! 98 DEGREES WAS BETTER THAN O-TOWN!Lol, you’re from FL aren’t you?–HUNTIES LFO IS BETTER THAN ANY WHITE BOY MUSIC ENSEMBLE OF MY FORMATIVE YEARS AND YOU ALL CAN BLOW ME FROM THE BACK IF YOU DISAGREE MMMKAYYYY-E— *NSYNC WAS BETTER THEN ANYTHING EVER! BOOM! I said it! Fight me!

BoyzIIMen was my EVERYTHING and *NSync was next though we haven’t even gotten into the R&B groups like Silk, Portrait, Jodeci, 112, I could go on forever.

I’ve done a lot of things over the past two years. I wrote a novel. I successfully Kickstarted my own comic book series with Joel Amat Güell. I began a well-received podcast and recently constructed a network for indie broadcasters and up-and-comers. And, of course, I founded ThatLitSite and its many branches.

This summer I’m doing something different. I’m moving into a territory I’ve had a deep desire to delve into since the age of four. Cinema.

This is not the first time I’ve brushed elbows with film. In 2011, before the concept of my first novel Disorderly even took form, I intended on shooting a movie guerilla style about drug addiction. It was titled ‘Derelict Rex’, and at birth—it was bound to be a failure. After investing numerous dollars and getting multiple backers on board, the feature collapsed when my lead actor and I parted ways over a minor dispute. I had seen the warning signs; his lack of commitment to rehearsing, taking hours to respond to texts and emails regarding the project—the writing was on the wall.

No matter how hard I tried, the film continued to sink. And eventually the project became nothing but a memory, another ‘what if?’

Fast forward three years and we’re back to square one. This time, however, I’ll be adapting an upcoming novella of mine entitled Practice Makes Perfect. It’s about a teacher—who aspires to become a full-time stand up comedian—and how his lack of steadfast commitment to the one thing he wants out of life is holding him back from accomplishing his goals. I wrote the manuscript, at the time unconsciously, as a sort of internal rebellion to what I was seeing around me. A number of twenty-somethings, my peers, saying they want one thing and doing another.

After several months of self-reflection, prayer, and discussions with family and friends, I’ve decided to leave SourceFed. I will be winding down over the next couple weeks, and then ultimately signing off. This is one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever made and certainly the most bittersweet. I absolutely love the people I work with, and I’m incredibly proud of the content we’ve created over the past two plus years, not to mention the amazing audience that has supported me.

That said, in my life, I have found that I have to take risks and move on, whether I’m comfortable doing so or not. I’m not sure what the future holds (I’m thinking maybe become an astronaut, because my mom said I can do whatever I set my mind to…), but I’ll still be around—keeping up with my channel, new shows, podcasts, stand-up comedy, writing, and more. It goes without saying that I’m so sad to be leaving my work family at SourceFed, but I will still be creating new, fun, probably sarcastic things in this crazy YouTube world. I’m also so, so, so excited about whatever is coming next!

And remember: Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose. Reach for the stars. Believe in yourself. Let it go (let it go!). You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. And in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!

So, I’m gonna publicly announce in the vaguest of ways the new projects coming your direction from me in 2015. These were all underway before Monty’s passing, but that unfortunate event is making me double down to ensure that this all gets off the ground. I’m also putting this out there so you guys can keep me honest. I’ll also sound the waters a bit here and ask for advice.

A service/biz/some kind of thing for the glitch art photo things I make. Do you guys like those? Would you like to see more?

I’m directing a play in the fall that’s kinda sorta about Fleetwood Mac and the making of their album Rumours.

About three other things that are so nebulous/hush-hush that I don’t even want to talk about them yet, but any one of them might take over my life completely and push the things up above to side project status.

So, like I said, these are in the works. At some point I might need to dip into what fan support I have. Have any of you backed Patreons? Would that even be a good model for me? Would that ick you out to see me setting up a Patreon?

I can’t emphasize how beneficial this church’s teaching has been over the last two months. If you’re looking for podcasts to listen to, I highly recommend this church. You can download them for free on iTunes or onto your phone. I can’t feed myself enough of these sermons. It’s actually hilarious…I’ve been listening when I drive, wash the dishes, take a bath, walk my dog…seriously.They are pulling me out of confusion and complacency that I didn’t even know I was stuck in and I’m so thankful for how God is leading them and using them to be a voice of truth and a conduit of freedom in my life.

If you want to listen but are having trouble choosing, I’ll recommend my favorites so far…